AUSTIN — Though he was hidden from view, the legend of Steve Edmond spread last summer, and people believed.

People believed that behind the gates of Texas' closed football practices, a freakishly gifted sophomore middle linebacker was going to help make the Longhorns' defense great again. His teammates and coaches did nothing to dispel the fantasy, because they believed, too.

Supposedly, Edmond was stronger than any man faster than him, and faster than anyone stronger, and bigger and meaner than them all. He'd never started a game for UT, but he already was earning the raves usually reserved for All-Americans and first-round draft picks.

It wasn't until the curtain was lifted that Longhorns coach Mack Brown fully grasped the problem.

Over the past few weeks, though, the brawny 6-foot-3, 255-pounder from Daingerfield has begun to catch up with the mythical reputation that preceded him.

He did not, as it turned out, immediately make UT fans forget about Tommy Nobis and Derrick Johnson. And he was not so spectacularly gifted that the Longhorns could overcome losing two linebackers to the NFL.

But in racking up 37 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and a key pass breakup as the rest of the defense steadily improved during the last four games, he's proving the early reports about his abilities weren't entirely fabricated.

“Sometimes it just takes a few games,” UT defensive back Kenny Vaccaro said. “I always knew Steve had it in him. That's the Steve we all know.”

But as the Longhorns' defense cratered in September and October, it looked as if Edmond had been as overhyped as those around him. UT gave up more yards than any team in school history and missed tackles at a rate that led the Big 12 — and Edmond looked lost in the middle of it.

He had been a star recruit at Daingerfield, but replacing Emmanuel Acho and Keenan Robinson was a huge step up from Class 2A. When UT's only other experienced linebacker, Jordan Hicks, went down with an injury, all the pressure was on Edmond.

“I felt it,” he said. “I wanted to back up what everybody was saying and I wasn't.”

Even though one of his most acclaimed attributes is his quickness, things simply were moving too fast for Edmond. With Hicks out, he was expected to get his unit lined up and make the defensive calls. He'd never done that before, and with young tackles in front of him and safeties behind him, opposing offenses showed no mercy.

“We don't play fantasy football,” UT defensive coordinator Manny Diaz said. “You have to learn how to play this game.”

The results say Edmond is getting it. At Kansas, he was a major reason why the Longhorns shut down the run on their way to a second-half comeback. At Texas Tech, he helped stuff the middle again, and showed his agility by knocking away a crucial third-down pass. And last week against Iowa State, he claimed his first sack as part of UT's best all-around defensive game of the Big 12 season.